Alpha Heroes
by Silvermoon816
Summary: The world has always had Alphas. Superhumans with powers out of myths, but not all of them are benvolent heroes. Actually the only true heroes are the Alpha Heroes, a team of supers that protect New York City from evil. Percy has kept his powers a secret for 17 years now, but the world is slowly descending into chaos. How much longer can he keep it up? Superhero AU, I own nothing!
1. Chapter 1 (06-11 19:00:33)

Rain pattered on the windows, thunder clapped in the distance. Percy sat at his desk trying in vain to understand his history assignment. The words jumped all over the textbook, they scrambled into incomprehensible phrases, he was getting a headache.

He silently cursed his dyslexia and stared harder at the textbook pages. He slammed the cover shut along with his eyes. He pushed away from the desk and focused on the rain outside, the dark clouds covered the once blue sky, lightning flashed in the distance.

Percy walked away from the window just as a loud bang came across the sky. He sat down on his bed and checked his phone, it was about five o'clock. He scrolled through the local news, then through his social media accounts. After a few minutes he turned it off and went back to his homework.

It was only the second week of school, and he had already gotten a project. School was not one of his favourite places, he had next to no friends and hated almost all his teachers. He wasn't a bad kid on purpose, trouble just followed him.

Like last year when the chemistry lab had been blown up. Percy was cleaning up just after the last student had left, when an Alpha had crashed through the window and spilt some chemicals. Percy had just ran out of the class when they reacted and effectively destroyed the room.

Or the time in gym class during the eighth grade. He was playing baseball and had been up to bat. He hit the ball as hard as he could and it hit the one in a million shot, right in the coach's face.

Or in the fourth grade when they went on a class trip to the beach to look at sea creatures for biology. Percy had been running down the beach, when he had tripped on a rock. He came down hard, shoving the girl in front of him into the water.

He never meant to be troublesome.

But the school had their opinions.

So no one sat with him at lunch, rumours spread about him like wildfire, and none of the teachers trusted him.

Percy opened up his textbook again and tried to make sense of the swirling words on the page. After a good half hour of pure concentration and effort, he had finished two questions. It wasn't his fault, blame dyslexia.

He looked out the window and saw the rain had cleared, all the building were wet, but the sun was coming out again. Percy walked over to the window and watched the commuters heading home.

Percy glanced at the horizon and saw a streak fly across it. It vanished into the distance just as soon as it arrived. An Alpha no doubt.

The had become common sight, Alpha Humans. Super humans with amazing abilities that ranged from ice manipulation to invisibility to flight. Some Alphas had many abilities, some had one. But the majority of the population was still powerless, but it was near impossible to miss an Alpha.

In school there was a special Alpha class. The kids in it were stuck up and mean. They used their abilities to torment and manipulate other kids, but the teachers always turned a blind eye.

The only Alphas worth anything were the heroes. The ones who protected the civilians from threats like rogue Alphas, criminals, and whatever demons the Alphas attracted.

"Percy!" His mother called. "Dinner!"

Percy left his room and joined his mother at the table. A spread of meatloaf, potatoes, and mixed vegetables waited for him. Percy ate the food eagerly, sharing what happened during school, and listening while his mother talked about her day. After dinner was finished, Percy snagged a blue cookie from the pantry and ate it before helping his mom load the dishwasher.

His mother sat in the living room and flipped through channels before stopping on the news. The on scene reporter was standing in a destroyed section of downtown. Parts of buildings had crumbled, water gushed from fire hydrants, and stray pieces of metal scattered the street.

"As you can see behind me, a battle was recently fought here," said the reporter. "As witnesses say, the Alpha Heroes showed up on the scene and destroyed a group of timores. The leader of the heroes, Beta, left before we could get an interview. The area is expected to be cleaned and open again later tonight, but repair costs are expected to be in the thousands. Amanda."

It cut to Amanda at the desk and she started talking about something else, Percy wasn't listening. He left the room and went back to his homework, but he couldn't focus. He kept tapping things, fiddling with things. ADHD and dyslexia meant he didn't like homework, or school for that matter.

He looked out his window and watched the sun sink on the horizon. He lifted the window pane and stuck his head out. He breathed in the air and rested his arms on the windowsill. The city was getting darker, but New York never really turned off, people were always doing something no matter the hour, and it never got dark, just darker.

Percy saw no one within his field of vision. He held out his hand, double checked, then let go of all his troubles for five seconds.

One. Water flowed from his fingertips.

Two. The water floated about his palm.

Three. It morphed into a sphere.

Four. It grew in size, a swirling mass the size of a baseball.

Five. It exploded into mist and disappeared.

Percy sighed. He'd hidden these powers for so long, he almost wished he could get it off his chest. But then he knew it was hard wired in his brain, whether he wanted to tell or not, his mind wouldn't let him.

He didn't want to be in the Alpha classes or use his powers to get back at all those kids and teachers. He just wanted to be his full self. He felt like he was only ever showing half of himself, he was hiding so much. Not even his mother knew.

But it had been seventeen years. A secret buried that deep would go to his grave.

But maybe it was for the best. The rumours would only get worse if he was tagged as an Alpha.

Percy ducked back into his room and shut the window. He gave up on doing his homework, it was just too hard for him to concentrate on it at the moment. He would take the fail on the assignment, it was better than this torture. In class it wasn't so bad, the teacher would verbally teach the class. But at home, it was straight from the book.

Percy grabbed a hoodie and slipped it on. He tied up his running shoes and walked through the house to the front door.

"I'll be back, I'm just going for a walk!" Percy called to his mother.

"Be back before ten, I mean it!" His mother called back.

Percy swing open the door and walked down to the elevator. He got inside and it dropped. When he finally reached the street, he could see the sky was dark, but you couldn't see the stars. Usual New York City sky.

Percy took off down the street, keeping his head down, not meeting other people's eyes. He eventually stopped at a coffee shop, inside people were sitting at tables, sipping late night coffees. Percy pushed open the door and the little bell rang.

He walked over to the counter and scanned the menu. He knew he had ten dollars in his pocket, he just couldn't go over it.

"I'll have a blueberry muffin and a regular coffee," he said.

The lady behind the counter took in his order, which came to just under five dollars. When he got his food he sat at a table by a window, he picked apart the muffin, popping pieces in his mouth.

The door swung open, the bell rang. But no one was there. The entire shop looked over and waited for a second. A crash came from behind the counter and all heads whipped around.

No one was standing there.

Suddenly the cashier was pulled back, the cash register popped open and money flew out. It was an invisible robber!

Percy glanced around at all the customers. A few had left, most looked in awe. Percy locked eyes with an Alpha girl from his school. She was always bragging about how powerful she was. She often used her powers to steal things as she pleased, but never when adults were present.

The girl stood up, raised her hand palm up in front of her, and closed her eyes. Her fingers glowed a faint green, the money that was being stolen glowed a matching colour. It was ripped from the robber's hand and landed on the girl's palm.

The cashier fell over, taking gasping breaths. The door of the shop opened, the robber was gone. The girl walked over to the cashier, handed over the money, then walked out, her hair bouncing.

For a final touch, she rang the bell with her powers.

Nancy Bobofit was such a show off.

Percy finished his coffee and muffin quickly then left the shop. He thought about visiting his friend Grover. He lived only a couple blocks away, and he had plenty of time before he had to be home.

He walked a few blocks in the same direction then turned down a different path. He came up to an apartment complex and scanned the directory. He pushed the button that he believed said Underwood.

"Hello," came a snotty voice from the other end. "Who is this?"

"Um, this is Percy, is Grover home?"

"Who's Grover?" Asked the snotty voice.

"My friend, what apartment is this?"

"I'm Mrs.Uhrich. Is this some kind of practical joke?" The snotty lady asked.

"Sorry, wrong apartment." Percy cancelled the call and tried again.

"Hello," came a familiar voice.

"Hey Grover, can I come up? It's Percy."

"Sure."

After a few minutes the pair were sitting on Grover's couch eating chips. Percy asked Grover about the assignment, Grover handed Percy some quick notes in Grover's big handwriting. Then they watched two episodes of Escape from Treasure Cove.

Percy checked the time and jumped. It was already quarter after ten!

"I've gotta run, I was supposed to be home fifteen minutes ago!" Percy left the apartment without another word.

When he reached the street he bolted in the direction of home. He would make it there in about five minutes if he ran. He turned a corner and smacked into a girl. She hit the ground, Percy helped her up. She looked fine, no scratches or bruises, just a little shaken up.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," apologized Percy.

"I can tell." The girl pushed her brown hair out of her face, revealing a pair of kaleidoscope eyes, that seemed to change colour as you watched them.

Percy realized he had been staring and looked away.

"Don't worry, I get it all the time," she said. But not like she was ecstatic about it. "I should get going, keep you head up."

The girl walked away and Percy bolted. He was almost past the point of no return. After ten thirty, he couldn't make excuses about congestion on the sidewalks, his mother would know he had completely lost track of time.

Percy was about a block away from his house and ten minutes from the point of no return. Percy sped up, there wasn't many people, finally things were going right-

Smack. He ran into someone again.

A man in a suit glared at him. Percy sidestepped and kept running. He could see his apartment. He got into the lobby and pressed the elevator button. After about a minute worth of terrible elevator music, he was on his floor.

He opened his door and saw his mother sitting in the kitchen.

"You're late," she said.

"There was like a thousand people on the sidewalk," Percy lied. "Could barely move."

"I saw you running, you lost track of time again, didn't you."

Percy sighed, he couldn't win this match. "I was at Grover's, and nothing bad happened so, no harm no foul, right?"

"Percy, this city isn't safe after dark," his mother said. "We may have heroes, but we also have criminals, monsters, Alphas who just cause trouble because they can. I worry about you."

Percy sat down in the vacant chair next to his mother. "I'll try to be on time more often. Goodnight, Mom."

His mother placed a kiss on his forehead. "Goodnight."

Percy left for his room and put on a pair of shorts and an old cotton shirt. He pulled the notes from his pants pocket and finished his assignment, changing the wording slightly. He heard a light click off in his mother's room.

Percy packed up his things, climbed into bed, and closed his eyes. After a few minutes he was asleep. It was the last night of calm, but he didn't know that.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a Friday during last period, Percy was itching to leave the class. Every few seconds he would glance at the clock, hoping for some reason it would move faster. Mr. Goodall was at the front of the room, lecturing the class about some battle during WWII. Percy wasn't even trying to pay attention anymore.

He checked again, fifteen minutes until he was free. Percy glanced around the room, seeing who was actually paying attention.

One kid in the back was sleeping, another was drawing on her desk, about half the class were on their phones. Only a handful of students were even listening, and it was so easy to spot them.

They were the smart kids, the ones who sat at the front of the room, and soaked up information like a sponge. They look notes when Mr. Goodal would say something interesting, they sat upright. Percy could almost sense the studiousness.

Except for one of them.

It was the blonde girl with curly hair. She contributed to discussions, took notes, and aced tests. But she was only half paying attention. Every few minutes she would get distracted or check her phone. But she was so sneaky, that almost no one noticed she wasn't as studious as the other know-it-alls.

Percy checked the clock again, thirteen minutes.

Mr. Goodall droned on for another few minutes. Said something of importance, saying it would be on the test, then carried on.

Ten minutes.

Percy tapped his pen against this desk. ADHD didn't help in classes either.

Nine minutes.

Mr. Goodall asked a question, one of the know-it-alls answered.

Eight minutes.

Seven minutes was when it happened.

The glass of one of the windows shattered, spraying glass a few feet. One kid got cut up pretty bad, they scampered out of the way as the teacher paged the office. This got the classes attention.

Everyone was turned around watching the window with extreme interest. Percy noticed only one student had a stone cold look on their face, blonde girl. Percy noticed an arrow was lying on the floor, he glanced back at the window.

Percy saw an arrow coming towards the windows again. It was going to shatter the glass again, he wanted to scream at the class to duck, or get out of the way, or anything. But his mouth didn't cooperate.

"Get down!" Cried Mr. Goodall.

The class, including Percy, hit the ground in record time. The window shattered, spraying more glass. By now, Mr. Goodall had opened the door and told the class they were dismissed. Percy grabbed his bag and rushed out the door with the mob of other students.

He left the building in a hurry, not bothering to go to his locker. There he saw it, the cause of the mayhem.

Up in a tree was an Alpha Hero, Percy recognized him from TV, it was Archer. A sharpshooter in a red hood, it always covered his eyes, he had an aura of mystery around him. He wore all black and had a bow and a quiver of endless arrows, which he was currently firing at a monster.

Now, Alphas attracted monsters, which had been called timores. They were the creatures of nightmares and old tales. The current one was all black, like a shadow, it moved with grace and agility. Everytime Archer shot, it moved overran inch, so it would just miss.

Archer jumped from the tree and dove towards the timore. Seconds before impact he turned into a bear that tackled and clawed the demon. It spewed a dark red blood, Archer came in for the killing strike.

He clawed across the creatures neck, and it turned to golden dust. Archer resumed human form and ran off, his arrows turning to dust that recollected in his quiver. Percy watched Archer vanish before heading towards his house.

Percy walked automatically, his mind was elsewhere. His thoughts trickled into one another, he was completely unaware of his surroundings, but he bumped into no one. When he was about a block from his house, he saw it.

A dark, seething mass, hiding in an alleyway. It had long claws, yellow eyes, and a fur coat the colour of coal. Percy saw a boy about his age walking a few feet from the alley. The timore was waiting patiently.

Percy whipped out his phone and texted his mom that he was at Grover's and would be back before dinner. Percy raced across the street, which had only a few cars at this time of day.

Percy's feet had just touched the opposite sidewalk when he froze up. What was he doing?! He just watched an Alpha Hero face off against one of these things for a few minutes, and he was a trained professional! Percy hadn't even used his powers in front of anyone before.

Percy's legs seemed glued to the sidewalk, the boy and timore still hadn't noticed him. Percy waited for the creature to attack.

The timore leapt from the alley, it caught the boy by surprise. He stumbled back a few paces, but Percy saw his eyes lacked fear. He pushed his hands forward and a gust of wind tossed the timore backwards. It was an Alpha!

Percy focused on the boy and tried to recall if he'd seen him at school before. He was obviously in the Alpha classes, but he often saw the Alphas roaming the halls during lunch break.

The boy had blonde hair and sky blue eyes, along with a small scar on his lip. Percy remembered a few encounters with this kid, one time he saw him and a few other Alphas in the cafeteria. Another he was walking with another Alpha down the hall, hand in hand. Something about the girl he was with stood out in his memory, her colour-changing eyes.

So this guy was dating, or dated, the girl he saw yesterday.

Percy came back to reality and saw the boy blow the timore into the sky. Air manipulation was a rarer ability, like the other elemental manipulations. The boy kept walking, his pace faster than before.

Percy wanted to know more about this kid. Many Alphas were stalked by timore, but few knew how to handle them. Percy was never followed because he didn't use his powers enough to attract attention, but this kid, he was probably the centre of attention.

Percy followed the boy, keeping about ten paces behind at all times. The boy didn't seem to notice, he was texting on his phone. They came to a street and Percy slowed his pace, it would be weird to stop, but he didn't want to actually walk up to the Alpha.

The boy walked down an alley then lifted off into the air, he vanished from sight. Percy sighed and turned around, in the direction of his house. But before he reached the end of the alley, a timore crawled down the side of a building and blocked Percy's path.

It hissed, a long black tongue flicking out of its mouth. Percy took a few steps back, the timore followed, its eyes gazing at him maliciously. Percy could try to fight it off with his powers, but he left that as a last resort.

He whipped around and booked it to the back of the alley. There he saw a fence, he stuck his feet in and swung over, landing on his knees on the other side. He brushed himself off and kept running.

He could see the end of the alley only about ten feet away, when the timore dropped right in front of him. He could try the same tactic, but timore weren't stupid, it would catch on.

Percy went to plan B.

He grabbed the lid of a trash can to his right, he held it in front of himself like a shield and ran at full speed towards the timore. He turned slightly so his shoulder would take the impact, then rammed into the monster.

It was pushed back, but it was mad now. It lunged at Percy, it's mouth open revealing rows of sharp teeth. Percy sidestepped it and ran towards the end of the alley. But out of the corner of his eye he saw the timore was only a pace behind him.

And idea stuck him like lightning. He ducked down into a crouch, and the timore rammed into him, but was thrown over Percy with the momentum of his run.

Percy jumped up and landed on the stomach of the monster. It winced, but grabbed his ankles. Percy was pulled to the ground, the timore climbed on top of him, its tongue flicking with delight.

Percy was out of clever ideas, powers it was.

Percy wanted to cause an eruption of water that would shoot the timore away, but all her got was a small jet of water. The timore whipped its head down, teeth ready to iron grip his neck.

An arrowhead appeared in the creatures chest. It slumped down and exploded, turning into a fine gold dust. Percy scrambled backwards, the arrow was gone, it the archer was still there.

Standing on a rooftop across the street, was Archer. He jumped out of sight, Percy pulled himself up off the ground and dashed out of the alley. He was done dealing with timores and Alphas today.

He navigated the streets to get home. He made it to his apartment without any mishaps, luckily. When he stepped inside his mother wasn't home, a note was tapped to the fridge saying that she went to go pick up some things from the store.

Percy wandered into his room. Something was amiss. On his floor was a stack of books. Weird, he could've sworn those were on his desk.

He placed them back in their proper spot and checked his phone. After a few inured he heard his mom enter the apartment. He helped her make dinner, and afterwards they made some popcorn and watched a movie.

About halfway through the movie an alert popped up on the screen. A strip of red with yellow words appeared at the bottom, every few seconds it would beep a horrible sound.

Percy tried to unscramble the letters as they moved across the screen. After three tries to find out the words after emergency alert he gave up. Thankfully his mother told him the summary of it.

"The Alpha Heroes are battling a large group of timore and rogues down the street," she said. "We'll be fine as long as we stay inside."

The siren stopped and Percy settled back into the movie. It finished after being interrupted by the same message four more times. Percy hugged his mother good night and slipped into his pajamas.

He switched off the light and covered himself with a blanket. He began to feel drowsy, his eyelids drooped. He was asleep within a few minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

Percy awoke to sirens. He hopped out of bed and looked out the window. It was just past midnight, but he couldn't find the source of the noise. He wandered to the living room for a better view.

Just down the street were scores of police cruisers and fire trucks. About half a dozen people were being arrested and police barricade was set up. Sides of buildings were smoking, a few trees were burnt to a crisp.

Percy spotted the news van trying to get through. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but the reporter was fuming, and the police weren't giving way. The reporter got back into the van, which turned down a street. Percy saw it reappear farther down, behind the barricade.

The reporter got out and started walking up to people who waved her away. Finally she was striking up a conversation with a chatty police officer. After a few minutes she went to the next person.

Percy sat down in the couch and turned on the T.V, hoping the sirens would stop soon. After fifteen minutes it was silent, well as silent as New York got. Percy wandered back to bed, falling asleep after a while.

Percy awoke to a glorious Saturday morning. He had no homework, no responsibilities, and a whole day to do whatever he wanted. His mother made him a stack of blue pancakes for breakfast, which he ate in ten minutes flat.

He threw on a t-shirt, filled a backpack with "necessary items", and grabbed his skateboard before leaving the house. His mom was going shopping, and he really didn't want to go. He loved his mom, but wasting his Saturday in a grocery store was not on his list of favourite things.

Percy met up with Grover at the skatepark. Grover wasn't much for skating, but he loved to race Percy down the ramps. He could run down near vertical drops without a problem. Sometimes Percy swore he was an Alpha with the ability of a mountain goat.

"Ready, set, go!" Percy screamed as he rushed down the half pipe. The wind blew his hair back, but Grover was still a pace ahead of him.

Percy leaned forward more, gaining speed, but losing his balance. He tumbled forwards, scraping his arms and legs, suddenly very thankful for his helmet.

He skidded to a halt at the base, but his board kept rolling. Grover helped him up and grabbed his board for him. Percy looked at his scrapped and bloody limbs and decided it was time to take a break.

They stopped at a convenience store and bought a pack of bandages. He washed his wounds with water before covering them up. His knees, hands, and elbows were covered in bandages which would probably be gone before sundown. He was never good at keeping them on, he always picked at them, reducing their stickiness.

"What do you wanna get for lunch?" Grover asked, rolling Percy's skateboard under his foot.

"You pick," Percy said, pulling at a bandage on his palm.

"Danny's Diner?"

"Sure."

The pair walked down the streets, taking turns rolling on Percy's board. They stopped outside a retro diner complete with checkerboard floors, red booth seats, and chrome trim. Percy and Grover took a seat by a window. They started flipping through menus, although Percy already knew every item.

A waitress came up to them. Now, Percy had been to Danny's so many times he knew the staff by heart, this girl, she was new. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, her eyes covered by the red visor the employees were forced to wear. She looked uncomfortable in the uniform, she tried her best to greet them with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Annabeth and I'll be your waitress for today," she said like she was dying inside. "What can I get you?"

"I'll have a large order of fries and a cheeseburger with all the toppings," Grover said. "Oh, and a large root beer."

Annabeth jotted down a few things and turned to Percy.

"I'll have a large order of nachos and a Sprite," Percy said, setting down his menu.

"Anything else?" Annabeth said, trying to smile.

Percy and Grover shook their heads and the waitress left in a hurry. Percy and Grover started playing a game to pass the time. Everytime a blue car would pass the window, Percy got to throw a balled up napkin at the napkin holder. And whenever a red car passed, Grover got to take a shot. The object of the game was to knock the holder over before their food came.

After Percy's fifth shot, the waitress returned with piles of food. Grover practically inhaled his food while Percy crammed nachos into his mouth. Once they finished Annabeth came over and the boys paid her, giving her a tip. Although she wasn't a great waitress, it was rude not to.

Grover and Percy left Danny's, they decided to head to Grover's to play Hero Quest, your average fantasy RPG with warriors, mages, and kings. But it was a great way to pass the time, and neither of them were hard core players.

Percy was laughing at one of Grovers tales of his unfortunate life, when he ran smack into something. In front of him, barely visible, was a pale blue barrier. He hammered it with his fist, but it didn't give. He turned around and saw a man with a gun pointed at his head.

"Give me your money and no one gets hurt," he said, his eyes glowing blue.

Grover reached into his pocket, he pulled out reed pipes?

"I don't think you can play him and tune and he'll leave us alone," Percy whispered.

"Hey! Put that down!" Yelled the robber, hands shaking.

Grover put the reed pipes to his lips and started playing a tune. The ground beneath the robber cracked, plants grew up and wrapped around the man. The gun was pulled from his hands by a vine and tossed to the ground. The plants started tightening, reminding Percy of a boa constrictor.

"Are you going to let us go?" Grover asked.

The man nodded, the barrier went down and so did the plants. The man gasped for air and Percy and Grover took off towards Grover's house. Percy wanted to ask about the freaky pipes, but he waited until they were safely inside Grover's living room.

"So," Percy said, unsure how to start. "What the heck is with those pipes?"

Grover grabbed two pops from the fridge and handed one to Percy. He cracked it open and took a sip before responding.

"My dad gave them to me," he said. "It was made by an Alpha. Some items like this exist, they mimic the powers of their maker."

"And you didn't tell me this before because.."

Grover sighed. "I only like to use them in emergencies. Alpha items are rare, there are people who would kill for this."

Percy nodded. The conversation died off for a few awkward seconds. Eventually Grover started up Hero Quest and they were battling in no time. Grover was his usual avatar, an earth Mage, level 28. Percy was a rogue warrior, level 31. He had found a special item in the game, a soul sword, which allowed him to win nearly every battle.

"Take the right!" Grover shouted. "I got the left!"

Percy slammed every button, slashing wildly with his sword, until he finally made contact with the opposing team. The other player slashed right back, knowing more about the controls than Percy, and gave him a critical blow.

"Grover, how you holding up?"

"I'm doing okay! Never mind I'm dead!"

Percy looked back to his screen just in time to see his health drop completely and name the opponents as the winner. Percy turned the game off and told Grover he was going to head back home. Grover waved him goodbye and Percy hit the streets.

For the first time in a few days he got home with no problems. No timore, no Alphas, nothing. It was glorious. He saw his mom sitting inside, reading at the table.

"How was your day?" She asked, looking up.

"I wiped out at the skatepark, but I'm good, you?"

"Well I found out what happened down the street," she said. "A dozen timore and a couple rogues attacked the Alpha heroes. A lady at the grocery store had some choice words to say about Inferno, who burned the side of her building. You should have heard her, going on and on about how much damage the heroes do."

Percy chuckled. "I'd rather have them take on timore and rogues than have the public take care of them."

His mom agreed and went back to her book. Percy switched on the tv and watched the latest episode of Bakers Gone Wrong. Semifinals were coming up soon and Percy was rooting for Alice, she hadn't burned anything, yet.

"Percy, what do you want for dinner?" His mom called.

"Tacos?"

A rusting came from the kitchen as his mother looked through cabinets and the fridge to check if they had everything. She gave him the okay and set out some ground beef to defrost.

The episode finished and Percy turned off the tv. He sat there for a few minutes when his mother strolled in.

"If you're bored," she said. "You could clean your room. It's a disaster area in there."

"It's not that bad." His mother looked at him with a look of 'oh really'. "Okay, fine, I'll clean it."

Percy headed back to his room and started organizing everything that was laying in a pile in the corner. He put a few things in their proper places, but for the most part he had no ideas where their "proper places" were. So he kind of just set it somewhere.

He found a stack of papers on the floor beside his desk and started rifling through them. It was nothing important, so he just tossed them in his trash, which was getting fuller by the minute.

He cleared his desk, fixed his closet, and partially cleaned out under his bed. He walked over to the window to open it, when he noticed the small envelope stuck underneath. He pulled it out and pushed the window up.

It was red with a silver symbol on it. Percy recognized it as a lowercase alpha. He flipped it over, finding nothing else. He ripped it open to find a small, crisp white paper. Written simply on it in black ink was a few sentences.

"We've been watching you.

Meet outside the Empire State Building at midnight.

Come alone, we'll send a representative to get you.

We could always use another hero."

Percy flipped the page over and saw, written in silver ink, Alpha Heroes. He placed the small card back into its envelope and set it on his desk. What if someone wanted to get him alone, late at night, to attack him or something. Could he trust this?

He smelled tacos and followed his nose to the kitchen. Percy helped get the tacos ready, he was getting hungrier by the minute. Finally they sat down to eat, he shoved it down in a couple bites before reaching for the next taco.

"So Percy," his mother said. "I'm going out to see a movie with Paul tonight. I'll be back later. Can I trust you to stay home?"

Percy swallowed. "Of course, where would I go?"

His mother nodded, satisfied with the response. All Percy could think was, he might actually leave, to head alone to meet a representative who may or may not be an attacker, at midnight.

Percy helped clean up and wash the dishes. His mother got dressed and left at around seven. Percy watched her leave, then turned back to his room. He went over the note many times, his dyslexia not acting up. He sighed and wondered if he should text Grover, he just had to go alone, it didn't mean he couldn't tell anyone, did it?

Percy jammed the envelope in his pocket and left his room to watch some tv to get his mind off of it. But every few minutes his mind would stray back to it. And back to the fact this could either be a trap, or an opportunity.

Eventually Percy made up his mind. He packed a bag with some things, put on a jacket, and headed off to the subway. He was either the dumbest person alive, or the next Alpha hero.


	4. Chapter 4

Percy stood in the subway, it was late. His mom was probably home by now, worrying where he was. Soon she would call, and he would have to ignore her. She'd go insane if she knew what he was really doing.

The subway came to a stop and Percy exited. He climbed to the streets above and walked to the front of the Empire State Building. He checked the time on his phone, he still had about fifteen minutes until whatever was going to happen happened. He was putting his phone away when it started ringing.

It was his mother.

He wanted to answer so badly, say that he was okay, tell her not to worry, that he'd be home soon. But then he'd need a lie. The phone call ended and a voicemail appeared in his inbox.

"Hey Percy, it's mom," came a voice. "You're probably asleep now, but Paul and I got stuck in some traffic, we're okay but we won't be home for a while. They've barricaded an area off. I'll try to be home soon. Bye sweetie."

It cut off. Maybe Percy was still in the clear. Percy decided to go once around the block to kill time. When he returned it was only a few minutes off of midnight. Three minutes.

Two minutes.

One minute.

Midnight.

Percy looked around, he didn't know what to expect, the Alpha Heroes to just appear? He took another sweeping glance, a frail old lady aproched him.

"My, you look just like my grandson," she said gazing at Percy. "Is that you Adam? We need to get you home."

The lady grabbed Percy's wrist with surprising strength, she pulled Percy along the street. He wanted to turn back, but this lady was pretty confident in the fact that he was Adam. He tried to explain but the lady was in her own world, talking all about experiences Percy had never had.

The lady dragged Percy into an abandoned industrial area. The lady looked around before coming to a stop. She faced Percy.

"Do you have the letter?"

Percy pulled the envelope from his pocket and handed it to the lady. She opened it and read over the note. She handed it back to Percy.

"Follow me," she said.

"What have I been doing up to now then?"

The lady ignored the comment and lead Percy over to a warehouse. It looked pretty abandoned, paint was peeling, windows were boarded up, and any metal was rusted.

The lady reached for the knob but stopped unexpectedly. "I always forget."

Her exterior melted away leaving a young girl behind. She had golden hair with jewels, a dark suit, and a gold mask that faded into her dark skin. It was one of the Alpha Heroes, Mage.

Mage grabbed the door handle and walked inside. Percy followed, expecting an old warehouse as equally rusty as outside. Boy was he wrong.

A large room was before him. Monitors lined a wall, a lounge area was in the centre and the floors had a layer of light carpet. Nothing looked old or rusted. Percy assumed parts of the outside were the work of Mage, since in here light filled the space, but none escaped to the exterior.

Percy saw some of the Alpha Heroes sitting around the room. He could easily name them all. Beta was sitting at a computer, her eyes scanning something furiously. The brightness of the screen lit up her face and owl feather mask. She looked up at Percy and Mage.

"I see you got our invitation," Beta said. "Please, take a seat."

Percy settled down on a chair facing all the heroes. They were all so intense in full costume, taking in everything about Percy. He felt like something under a microscope, like he was only there to be examined.

"We've been watching you," Beta said. "And we've been impressed."

"How have you been watching me?" Percy asked.

"We have our ways," Beta said. "Archer saw you in action, Tempest saw you rush to save a civilian, even though you failed to, and I'm most impressed by the fact that your powers are still a secret. Elemental manipulation is not a common ability."

Tempest leaned forward, his golden Roman style armour clinking. "The main reason you're here is because we wish to recruit you as our next hero."

"Are you willing?" Beta asked.

Percy nodded, at the moment it was all he could manage.

"Come with me Percy," Beta said standing up. "We have a lot to do."

Percy followed the grey clad hero into a back room. She reached into her pocket and pulled out two daggers. She shut the door behind herself and gestured for Percy to sit in the only chair in the room.

He sat down and Beta put one dagger back in her pocket, the other she held out to Percy, hilt first. "What is this?" He asked.

"This is the Blade of Semita," Beta said. "An Alpha item that has been passed down from hero to hero. Protectors take an oath, that if broken, this dagger will hunt you down and kill you."

Percy looked at the dagger, it wasn't special. All it had was a leather grip and a silver blade. The only memorable feature was a diamond that sat at the base of the blade. Percy reached out and grabbed it.

Words appeared on the blade in dark letters. They spelled out an oath, the one that if he broke he would be dead. Beta left the room, but Percy was sure that she was just outside the door. He began to read the oath.

"I promise to protect the helpless," Percy started, his voice shaking a bit. "To be loyal to my fellow heroes. To be a guardian of honor and valor, to fight to the brutal end. I give my blood to bind this oath, to give my life away."

Percy felt his hand moving, alone without his control. His left arm came up, the skin of his wrist exposed. The dagger came down in one swoop, a clean cut across his wrist. The diamond on the blade turned blood red just as Percy regained control. The dagger clattered to the ground and Percy placed a hand over his wrist, the wound was bleeding like crazy, red droplets stained the floor.

Beta walked into the room, she had a small first aid kit with her. She pulled out a square and fed it to Percy, it tasted like home. His mother's cookies and warmth. Beta said it was a healing food called Ambrosia. The cut on his wrist closed, leaving a scar that would probably never go away.

"Welcome to the Alpha Heroes," she said. "I should've warned you that you would sustain injury."

"That would've been useful information," Percy said.

Beta grabbed the Blade of Semita and placed it in her pocket. She pulled out the other blade, Percy moved back a little. "Am I going to get injured again?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Beta said. "But that's it. All Alpha heroes have them."

Percy grabbed Beta's wrist and saw a single scar running across it that matched Percy's. He reached out and grabbed the other blade, he really didn't want to lose control again.

"This is the Dagger Reserare," Beta said. "It initiates your first transformation into your true form."

Beta left the room again, and Percy was left alone with another magic dagger. This one had only two words on it, engraved near the hilt. Aperire animo. Percy spoke the words and nothing happened. That's when he noticed the diamond on the hilt. He groaned, more blood.

He felt no sensation of his limbs moving on their own. He ran his fingers over the blade, the hilt, then the diamond. He felt his limbs continue on their own. The blade was poised over his left wrist, the blade came down again, making a second mark just behind the first.

"Aperire animo!" Percy said through gritted teeth, this wound hurt.

The diamond on the dagger turned sea green, Percy's whole body felt weightless for a moment. Sea green covered his vision. When everything felt normal again, he nearly fell over from shock.

He wore a black suit with sea green armour on top. He felt a mask on his face, he stretched a hand and a sword appeared in his grasp. The word Riptide was engraved near the hilt. It was bronze unlike the rest of his armour, but boy was it cool. He couldn't control himself, this was a childlike dream. He swung the sword around making it whoosh through the air.

Beta walked in, looking him up and down. She smiled and handed him another piece of Ambrosia. He popped it in his mouth and followed her out to the lounge. All the Alpha Heroes seemed impressed by his costume.

"So what are you going to call yourself?" Beta asked.

"Hydra," Percy said.

"Why that?" Inferno asked.

"From mythology, chop off one head and two more grow back," Percy said. "Plus it has to do with the word for water."

"Now that you've had your oath and everything," Inferno said. "We can actually show you some cool stuff."

Inferno walked over to the wall of monitors and clicked a few buttons. All the screens flashed to different news broadcasts, newspaper articles, and social media sites that showed the Alpha Heroes. A speaker played police transmissions while the computer logged them.

"Woah," Percy managed to say.

"Oh you haven't seen the half of it," Inferno said.

Inferno pulled Percy back toward the lounge area. "Beta, if you will."

Beta pulled out a remote and tapped a button. The floor dropped like an elevator, all the Heroes got up off the furniture and waited. Percy saw what for.

A hall illuminated by lines of light was before them. They walked down, the fluorescent lights reflecting off the dark shiny walls. They came into a large open space.

"This is the training area," Beta said. "Inferno created robots we can use to practice. We don't get much use out of it since we spend more time battling actual threats, but it is fun to waste time in."

The group headed back to the lounge which came back to ground level. All the heroes sat back down, they were quite the bunch. None of them really matching, but they seemed to go together.

"We know your identity," Tempest said. "It's only fair you know ours."

Tempest was surrounded by wind and crackling lightning. When it settled, Percy recognized it as the kid who fought off the timore. "I'm Jason, nice to meet you."

Vixen stood up next, the silver feather in her hair swung. She was surrounded by purple and came back as another Alpha Percy recognized. "Piper," she said simply.

Inferno jumped up and was engulfed in flames. He landed as a scrawny kid with oil stained clothes. "Leo, charmed I'm sure."

Archer just stood and his disguise vanished in a stream of red. A young Chinese man looked back at him, his hair styled in a buzz cut. "I'm Frank."

Mage stood and sparkled gold. When it faded a similar girl stood there, her gold hair now dark, but her eyes just as bright. "I'm Hazel."

"I actually can't do that," Beta admitted. "I am powerless."

"But I've seen you use invisibility on TV," Percy said.

Beta pulled out a hat and slipped it in her head. She disappeared and came back after a few seconds. "An Alpha item."

Beta took off her mask and jammed it in a pocket. She pulled her hair from a ponytail and Percy recognized her. "Annabeth."

"Why would a superhero need a job as a waitress?" Percy asked.

Annabeth sighed. "My parents think I need more responsibilities. They're happy with my grades, but they think I spend too much time hanging out with friends late at night."

Annabeth unbuttoned her loosish grey jumpsuit, underneath she wore her clothes. She pulled a backpack from her jumpsuit pocket and jammed her costume inside. "Before you ask the pockets were sewn by an Alpha who specialized in space manipulation."

Percy nodded. "How do I take this thing off?"

"It's your powers, just warped," Jason said. "You still control them."

Percy focused on his suit. He noticed how it felt like water, just different. He couldn't put his finger on it. The outfit slipped off of him like water, he almost expected it to by lying in the floor. But no, he was just back to normal.

Annabeth asked for Percy's phone. She handed it back after a moment. Percy saw a list of new contacts and a group chat called "Study Buddies." Percy cringed at the name.

"You've been able to keep your powers a secret for this long," Annabeth said. "Let's see if you can keep this a secret too."


	5. Chapter 5

**I've been wanting to update for a while now, but I've been lacking the motivation. Well it came to me, so here you go, sorry for the long wait.**

Percy left the hideout and took the subway home. It was just after one in the morning, and Percy really hoped his mother was still stuck in traffic. He would have a lot of explaining to do if he came back from an undisclosed location with no excuses past midnight.

Percy got off the subway and booked it home. Suddenly he wished he could just fly home like Tempest, but that was not the case. He saw his apartment complex just down th street, he hurried up, going into a full on sprint.

Percy came in through the lobby and up to his apartment. His fingers fumbled with the lock and he crept inside. All the lights were off, he saw no sign that anyone was there. He slid open the closet door and saw his mother's shoes and coat were both missing, she was still out.

Percy hurried to his room, dropped his bag, and slipped on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He slid under his sheets and tried to fall asleep. But his mind was busy.

He, in the course of an hour, learned the identities of all the Alpha Heroes, found out where their hideout was, and became a hero. He absentmindedly rubbed his left wrist, where the two lines that marked him an official hero laid. He now had an alter ego. Hydra, a water wielding hero that now had to protect one of the biggest cities in the world.

After about ten minutes Percy heard the door open. "He forgot to lock the door again," his mother sighed. The lock clicked and Percy heard some lights flick on and off, and footsteps going around the house as his mom got ready for bed. He heard silence for a few moments and knew she was asleep.

Percy forced himself to relax, to stop thinking about so much. But the more he thought about sleep, the farther away it felt. He began to fall into a daze, he spent a good while just dipping in between 'I'm almost asleep' and 'just hurry up and sleep already.'

He opened his eyes and saw the morning sun creeping into his room. He didn't remember falling asleep, but he must have. He stretched and untangled himself from his sheets. Not bothering to properly make his bed, he just made the top sheet look nice.

He put on some clothes and heard the frying pan sizzle. He headed over to the kitchen where his mom was making some bacon and eggs. Percy's stomach growled and he helped make some toast. His mom filled some plates and set them at the table. Percy stuffed himself, it was delicious.

"Anything exciting happening at school today?"

Percy glanced up. "No, just normal classes."

His mom cleared her throat. "So, where were you last night?"

Percy almost chocked on his food. "What do you mean?"

"Grover called the house, he left a voice mail asking about notes for a class."

"I guess I just didn't hear the phone ring," Percy said.

"He said he tried to text you too, I know you well enough to know that your phone is always on you. What were you doing last night?"

"I just went out for a walk for like fifteen minutes, he must have called then."

"Mmhm."

Percy quickly cleared his plate and put it in the sink. He grabbed his backpack and left after giving his mom a hug, she still watched him suspiciously. When he closed the door behind him he hurried down the hall and out to the street. He would be like half an hour early for school, but he didn't mind.

He stopped in front of the school, teachers cars were parked, a few students lingered in groups, but it looked deserted. Percy headed over to a tree and sat in its shade, popping in earbuds and playing some music. He hooked up to the schools wifi and surfed the net for a bit, he started rifling through past articles about the Alpha Heroes.

There had always been the six of them. They'd been working as a group for a few years now. Eventually he ended up on a conspiracy theorists website, where they had linked the Alpha Heroes to identities of famous alphas. Their last post was all about how Beta actually works for the government, and that she's really the leader of the pentagon. Percy snickered, boy where they wrong.

A body crashed down next to Percy and took a look at his screen. "Conspiracies, really?"

Percy turned to look at Grover and took his earbuds out. "It's hilarious. One post says that Inferno causes all the local fires and is really a supervillain trying to destroy New York."

"He's burned a good chunk of it," Grover said. "Did you bring the notes?"

Percy rummaged through his bag and handed Grover a few sheets of paper. He copied them and handed them back. The pair headed off to their classes, Grover to math and Percy to chemistry.

When Percy walked into the room he spotted Annabeth sitting near the front. He didn't know what to expect, them to suddenly be friends? Her to talk to him? But she didn't even look in his direction.

Percy headed near the back of the room and took a seat. No one sat close to him, but he didn't mind, he was used to it by now. Class started out fine, until they were assigned a partner experiment.

Uggghhh.

Everyone in the class paired up, except for Percy and a random girl he'd never spoken to. She came up to him and tried to be polite, but Percy could sense the discomfort in her words.

They put on their goggles and walked over to a station, there the girl took the lead, which Percy was fine with. She asked Percy to stir the solution while she prepared another thing, Percy agreed and followed her instructions. Everything was going fine until he sneezed.

Percy's hand shook and the solution splashed and crashed onto the table. A bit got on their sheet and it was eaten away by the acidic thing (Percy still didn't know what it was, his extensive chemistry education.)

Percy reached for something to clean it up with when he knocked over a small container with a few strips of metal in it. The metal hit the acid and popped, gaining the attention of the class.

"What did you do?" Shouted Percy's partner.

"I split a bit, don't worry I can fix it."

The girl pulled Percy away from the station and called over the teacher. She order the class to leave the room while she cleaned up the mess, and sent Percy to the office. It was his third lab accident this month and the teacher considered him a hazard.

Percy headed down the hall and walked into the office. He had a chat with the vice principal, who called in the teacher. The two of them came up with a solution, Percy wasn't allowed to do any experiments for the next while, just watch.

With Percy's luck he would still mess something up from five feet away.

The bell rang and Percy was allowed to head to his next class. He walked in and sat next to Grover who was trying to make some sort of origami thing, after a few folds he crumpled it and tossed it into the trash.

"I heard you destroyed the chemistry lab again," Grover said.

"I did not," Percy shot back. "I only spilt some acid stuff and dropped some metal in it. No one got hurt."

"Well rumours about it spread like wildfire, your partner said you were a complete dunce and she's lucky to be alive."

Percy groaned. "Well it's false, not like anyone's going to believe me."

Second bell rang and they began their lesson on weather patterns. Percy didn't even try to pay attention, all of geography class could be taught by a map, all Percy wanted to know was were stuff is. Not why certain storms happen in certain areas and what caused hurricanes. How was that geography?

Although Percy had never actually fallen asleep in class, he began to nod off. Maybe it was the endless monotony of the teachers droning voice. Maybe it was because he was low on sleep. But whatever the reason, his head was resting on his arms, and his eyes were shutting.

Percy sat in a field with tall grass, the horizon was golden like sunrise or sunset, although he couldn't tell which one. The air was still and silent, something was amiss. He pushed himself into a standing position, his feet sunk into the soft earth.

Strange, it was hard before.

Percy stepped forward, his feet going deeper. He took a cautious step and his foot sunk up to his knee. He started sprinting, lifting his feet high in an attempt to not sink, soon he was waist deep in the muddy ground. He strained to push himself out, but he couldn't.

He kept moving forward, falling deeper and deeper into the mud. It was up to his neck now, he took another step and the mud was up to his ears. He tilted his head up, he would suffocate soon. He tried to make his body float, like you would do in water. But he sunk beneath the dirt.

The muddy earth turned hard and Percy found it hard to breathe. Dirt blocked his nose and mouth, his eyes were caked shut. He heard footsteps above him, he wanted to scream and ask for help. They came to a stop above him.

"Percy, stop fooling around, we have things to do." It was Annabeth.

"Yeah Percy, first day on the job and you're already dragging the team down." It was Leo now.

Percy wanted to call back to them that he was stuck, but his voice wasn't working.

"I thought you were a hero, people are dying because you can't help!" Shouted Piper.

Percy flailed his limbs but only sunk deeper. He was running out of air, he was going to die like this.

"He isn't a worthy hero, he can't even save himself," snapped Hazel.

Percy gave it one final push. His body sunk down so quickly what air that was left in his lungs went flying out. He hit something hard, he could breathe again. He opened his eyes and saw that he was lying in his living room, dirt free.

His mother was sitting on the couch. She flipped a magazine page absentmindedly.

"Come crawling back?" She asked. "All the other Heroes died because you couldn't do your job, and now you want to stay here? That won't do, will it."

"What?" Was all Percy managed to get out.

His mother snapped her fingers and the floor below him gave way and he went into free fall. He smacked hard against steel, he looked around and saw that he was in a cage, suspended high above the city. He was Hydra now, and angry masses shouted below him.

"Kill the failed Hero!"

"He's hurt this city more than he's saved it!"

"He let my husband die!"

"He let my mother die!"

"He let the Heroes die!"

"Time to die." Percy whipped around and saw Grover standing on the roof of a nearby building. He was holding his reed pipes. He put them to his lips and let out a shrieking sound.

"Please Grover, don't do it!" Percy screamed, but it was lost in cacophony around him.

The chain that held the cage up snapped and Percy rocketed towards the ground, he was thrown around the cage, smashing into the walls. His body ached and his head hurt. The cage broke apart and Percy was left to hit the street below without any protection.

The pavement came up fast, his body was about to become a pancake, and people around him were cheering, Grover was laughing. Percy closed his eyes and waited for impact.

It never came.

Percy was standing in the field again, out of costume, surrounded by the Alpha Heroes. Beta stepped forward.

"You'll never be one of us."

"Why did you save me?" Percy asked.

"We wanted to kill you ourselves."

Percy saw blades being pulled, an arrow notched, and flames come to life. Percy covered his head and felt his body be ripped to shreds, burned to ashes, and scattered in the grass.

Percy jolted awake. Tears soaked his desk and sleeves, he'd knocked all his books and pencils to the ground, his body was sweaty and shaking. He looked up and saw the entire class watching him, some with concern, others fear. Grover grabbed Percy's shoulder and turned him. His eyes with filled with thousands of emotions.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Percy stood up and walked out of the class, dozens of eyes watching him. He heard Grover following, he slumped down against a wall just outside the classroom. Grover came down beside him.

"You kept muttering to yourself," Grover said. "Scary stuff. You were gasping for air, kicking everything around you down. You told me not to do something. I tried to wake you, a couple times actually. I was worried, what happened."

Percy knew he couldn't tell Grover the truth, but he knew he couldn't just brush it off. He felt unbalanced now, dread settling in his stomach.

"Everyone turned my back on me," Percy said. "They kept trying to kill me, eventually they did."

"What did I do?" Grover asked.

Percy didn't want to tell Grover the truth. Not one bit. "You were going to shove me off a building, but I told you to stop and you pulled me back. You even tried to stop all my science teachers from burning me with every chemical I've ever spilt."

"That'll teach you to fall asleep in class," Grover said. "C'mon, we still have to sit through the rest of weather patterns."

Grover helped Percy to his feet. Percy dried his eyes and tried to make his body stop shaking. It was just a dream. No, not a dream, a nightmare. One that would probably prevent him from sleeping easy tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm back from the dead! So sorry I haven't updated in so long, I've been trying to keep up my other story while generating ideas for three other stories and working for most of the day. I'll try to update again sooner!**

After a long, restless night, Percy greeted the day. He was then promptly greeted with a text message. He reached out into the sunlit room and grasped his phone, it was from "Study Buddies", he once again cringed at the name.

The text message was plain and simple but still managed to make Percy scared, excited, and nervous.

Annabeth: Timore @ Central Park, Leo, Percy, and Piper.

Percy put on some clothes at random and grabbed his school bag, he probably wouldn't have time after to grab it, and opened the window. He stood on the ledge, dozens of feet above the ground, and attempted to transform.

He felt inside himself for his power, and forced it to become his suit of armour, but nothing happened. Water dripped from his palms and gathered on the windowsill around his feet.

He raised his hands, spread them about a foot apart, and slammed them together. It didn't make a sound as water sprayed all over him, covering him from head to toe in a thin layer of liquid. It glowed faintly, his hands had gloves on them, but not quite. They were like a hologram in the water, and when he moved his hands apart, his armour was left behind.

Percy, now Hydra, closed the window behind him and jumped off the ledge. He sprayed water from his hands with great amounts of pressure that sent him flying off the sides of buildings. He made it to the street and saw people looking up at him, pointing and taking videos with their phones.

Hydra needed to get to Central Park faster and stop drawing so much attention. He willed water to surround his feet and ankles, and then he readied himself to push with so much pressure he would go flying.

He hit the top of a building and readied himself to jet off. He did go flying, just not according to plan. Hydra went skyrocketing into the air, tumbling and falling with no sense of control. He smashed into the fourth story of an apartment building and decided that hand power was the better way to go.

When Hydra finally made it to Central Park he caught his first glimpse of the scene.

Vixen was the only Hero there, a horde of about a dozen timore surrounded her, she was holding her own but was left entirely on defence. A group of children were hiding behind a large rock, one little boy kept looking around the edge at the battle. Hydra saw a little girl was making a small patch of grass around her get covered in ice from fear, while another boy was lighting leaves on fire with finger lasers to keep others distracted.

All the children were alphas, that's why so many timore had gathered, they were easy prey. Hydra jumped down, a few children waved to him and poked their friends, he waved back and shot them a smile before summoning Riptide and charging.

He slashed a dark timore with six yellow eyes and it turned to dust. He ran into the circle and stood with his back to Vixen.

"Nice of you to show up," she said between slashes. "When do you think Inferno will arrive?"

"Right now!" Hydra shouted. "Duck!"

Inferno came in blazing and shooting fire blasts. Two timore were burnt to a crisp as Inferno flew over Vixen and Hydra. He landed with a thud and the three heroes started massacring the demons.

Riptide slashed through the timore, Vixen's twin daggers stabbed and sliced, and Inferno lit his hands on fire and punched monster after monster. Soon they were surrounded by dust, crispy grass, and onlooking children.

"Who are you?" The peeking-around-the-rock kid said, pointing at Hydra.

"This is Hydra, the newest Alpha Hero," Vixen said.

Hydra smiled and heard a bell ring a couple of blocks away. His smile slid off his face, first bell. He had five minutes to make it to his desk or he would probably seeing detention from the amount of tardies he'd racked up. Vixen and Inferno must have heard it too, because they told the children to find their parents and make sure they didn't get out of their sight again. They nodded and left, smiling and chattering.

"Good luck getting to class on time." Inferno bolted away and dissapeared into the city.

Vixen waved and dashed away, Hydra decided to follow their lead. He pressurized water around his hands and blasted himself high above the park and towards his school. He assumed he had maybe two minutes to get to the grounds to have enough time to get to home room.

Hydra landed on building tops and flew through the air, his feet barely grazed the surface before he sent himself into the air again. The school was coming up fast, he landed on the school roof and thought about how he should do this.

He could use the roof access and use that to get into the school, but he would have some explaining to do. He could jump and land in the alleyway near the school and run back, but he would have a higher chance of being late. He chose the first option and let his costume melt away.

He walked over to the roof hatch and found it locked. Of course. Why would it be unlocked?

Well, they couldn't trace him back to this, so… He turned back into Hydra, summoned Riptide, and slashed through the padlock. It shattered and Percy lost the super clothes and climbed down the ladder.

He found the door at the bottom locked, but a set of extra keys were hanging on a small hook inside the room. He unlocked the door, shut it, and heard the lock click. He slid the keys under the door and tried to look innocent.

No one saw him come out, so he hurried to his first class down the hall. He saw the door and quickened his pace. He got both feet onto the terrible checkerboard floors and slid into his spot. Seconds later the bell rung.

"Just under the wire," Grover whispered from beside Percy.

"Oh yeah." Grover had no idea.

English was torture. It was poetry. Percy tried to work on his piece, this is what he got on the topic of nature:

A tree as tall as the sky,

A flower as delicate as snow,

A bug flew in my eye,

Oh no.

My ice cream has melted,

My legs are in pain,

And I'm being pelted,

By rain.

The sun burns my arms,

Mud wrecks my clothes,

The rest was unwritten as Percy found no rhymes for arms or clothes, and his dylexia kept making his piece different. Like one time for like ten minutes he pondered what "The sum rubs my mars" meant.

Finally the bell rung and he was freed, sure the assignment was due tomorrow, but he was brain dead and the class was doing nothing for him. He was the first out the door.

Percy navigated the halls to try and get to the library for his free period. He slammed into a dozen backpacks, ran into a locker, and tripped over about a hundred people's loose shoelaces (tie your shoes people) but finally reached the library.

He found a table in the corner and laid out his books. He slumped down and plugged in some earbuds and blasted his playlist. He scribbled and doodled on pages trying to look like he was working. A finger tapped his shoulder and he pulled out an earbud.

"Can I talk to you for a minute outside?" Asked Piper.

Percy gathered his things and followed Piper outside of the school, waiting under a tree was Annabeth and Leo. Piper and Percy sat down in the cool grass in the shade. Annabeth pulled a notebook from her bag and used a feather pen to write something at the top, but no ink was there.

"Uh, your pen's defective," Percy said.

"The ink can only be seen under a special light back at the base," she explained. "I take note of all missions in here. Now, how was this morning."

"I was first to arrive," reported Piper. "There were twelve timore there, attracted by a group of Alpha children. I hid them behind a large rock and was quickly surrounded. I was holding my own for about three minutes before Hydra arrived, followed shortly by Inferno. All the timore were dispatched of quickly and the children were sent to safety. Did I miss anything?"

Percy thought back to the morning but couldn't think of anything, she got pretty much everything.

"Great," Annabeth said, scribbling on the paper. She put the notebook and pen back in her bag. "How was your first assignment Percy? I hope you weren't too scared."

"The only truly frightening part was the fact that I had to break and enter into the school using the roof to avoid being late again."

"Get used to it," Leo said. "Your plans, timing, and schedule will now be thrown out the window. Enjoy your new life as an on-call superhero."

"Lunch patrol today is Jason and Piper," Annabeth said. "After school we're all heading back to the base, don't be late Percy."

With that she stood up and headed back into the school. Percy got a text assigning the lunch patrol, Piper began texting Jason asking where they should get lunch. Leo dashed back into the school, he was on a "bathroom break", and probably a few minutes later than he should be.

Percy headed back to the library and tried to work on his poem, trashing the last two lines. His mind was running over excuses for why he wouldn't be able to come home right after school. He was going to have to lie a lot, he should be an adept liar by the end of the year.

The bell rang for lunch and Percy met Grover outside of the cafeteria. Percy got a couple slices of pizza for lunch while Grover loaded his tray with fries, a burger, two sodas, and a strawberry turnover. The pair found a table and ate their food while comparing poems.

"I got the topic of fire," Grover said jamming a handful of fries in his mouth. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know," Percy said. "I can barely handle nature."

"That's easy," Grover said. "If I had your topic I'd be done already."

"Great, mind doing mine?"

Grover laughed his not quite human laugh. It almost sounded like a sheep or something.

Percy finished his pizza and watched as Grover shoved about half his hamburger in his mouth. After a minute or so, Grover gulped down the rest of his soda. They left the cafeteria to head outside, they stopped on a bench beneath the shade of a tree.

"Hey Grover."

He looked over a Percy.

"Could you show me your reed pipes?"

Grover looked around then reached into his pocket. He pulled out his reed pipes and passed them to Percy.

"Don't break them, I would be so dead," he warned. "And don't try to use them, you could seriusy break something, like my bones."

"How do these even work?" Percy asked.

"Like this."

Grover took the pipes and played a short tune. Roots grew up from the ground and stood at attention. Grover played three short notes and the roots wrapped around Percy's wrists and ankles, working their way up his arms and legs pulling him off the ground.

"That's so cool," Percy said watching the roots. "Now can you put me down?"

Grover played one long, high note, that made the roots drop Percy. He hit the ground, a bit shaken, then joined Grover on the bench.

"I can see why these are so rare," Percy said.

"Yeah."

Percy made a mental note to ask Annabeth about Alpha items. The five minute bell rung and Percy and Grover parted ways. Percy wandered through the halls and saw a flash of lightning streak the sky. Jason and Piper were going to be late.

Percy settled into his desk and got out his books. Right before first bell he got the text.

Jason: Piper's hurt, outnumbered 10-1. SOS.

A quick follow up came.

Annabeth: Me, Frank and Hazel will meet you. Location?

Jason: Corner of Columbus and 86th

Annabeth: Frank, Hazel, head over immediately.

Frank: Going there.

Hazel: I'll be there in a few moments.

The texts stopped. Percy watched the sky, a flash of lightning came from the distance. Closer up he would probably see more signs of a battle, but right now all he saw was the occasion electrical strike.

"Mr. Jackson, something interesting?" Asked the clearly annoyed teacher.

Percy swivelled his head back to the front of the room. "No, sorry."

The lesson resumed and Percy waited for any sort of follow up message, but none came.


End file.
